MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Jan. 20 will be a full day of services at United Methodist churches, including Middletown United Methodist Church.

“We completed a very busy Advent and Christmas Season, but as of Jan. 6, the completion of Epiphany – which is 12 days after Christmas when the Magi were said to have arrived at the birthplace of Christ – we will celebrate this Sunday Martin Luther King Day, Human Relations and Ecumenical Sunday at our 11 a.m. New Life Service and 1:30 p.m. Spirit Connection Service,” Brumfield said.

Meshing these important events into one hour for both services will be challenging. But in reality, they blend well when realizing that the Christian beliefs of Dr. King gave him an abiding faith in humanity that included persons of many faiths working to assure human relations for all people.

Some believe that Christians of differing denominations and persons of other faiths do not or can not “get along.” But in Middletown members of various churches are working together for worship services and community projects like the community Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and the Easter Sunrise service at the cemetery.
 
As 1 Corinthians 12:12 says: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”

Michael Pommier writes, “I cannot imagine that there are separate wings in heaven, one for each denomination.”

Growing up in the Catholic Church, he added, “I continue to celebrate my faith.” However, he is perplexed that “people of different faiths do not get along simply because of their chosen faith.”

After all, Pommier continues, people of “all Christian faiths pray to the same God, just in a different way. If you walk up to a stranger and ask, ‘Do you believe in God?’ and they answer ‘yes,’ can you determine what faith they celebrate just by their answer?”

Brumfield concluded, “We are blessed to have many opportunities in Lake County for people to come into relationship with our Creator God.”

At Middletown United Methodist Church there are two services on Sunday to connect people to the Holy Spirit at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

All who seek to grow spiritually are invited to connect with a faith community and grow in love.

For more information about the programs and services at Middletown United Methodist Church call 707-295-7174.